Til Death Do Us Part
by airwolf addict
Summary: Story 26. A simple visit to Italy by Ellie Mae becomes a distressing disaster to her and those who love her...
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

The rain fell in torrents, so thick and heavy she could hardly see the road two yards in front of her. Man, she would be so glad to finally get out of this, Ellie thought to herself. Visiting Tesa and coming to see her new Italian home had sounded like a brilliant idea, but that was before she'd spent an eternity stuck in the storm of the century. Only two more miles. Rounding a corner, carefully and slowly to avoid hydroplaning, she came head to head with another vehicle racing in her direction, the blinding lights the last thing she saw other than her life flash before her eyes as it slammed into her car head on, sending it in a mad spin, and finally coming to rest on the edge of a half filled ditch.

\A/

"Now String, please promise me next time you'll at least warn me before gallivanting off to some foreign country with Airwolf."

"I did have reasoning for going alone you know."

"Yeah, I figured as much, but please promise me. I don't want to lose you Stringfellow Hawke," she said seriously.

"You don't believe me when I said I always come back?" he teased.

"I'm being serious. Last time you said that you almost didn't come back."

"But I did," he pointed out.

"But you almost didn't. I'd like to at least be told, surely you can understand that. I want a proper goodbye not some half legible note scribbled down at the hanger and hidden under a pile of paperwork."

"Alright, I might be able to manage that."

"Thank you."

"Since I'm now telling you before I leave, are you about ready to go yet? I've got a stunt to fly in two hours and Dom's going to getting grumpy if I don't show up soon."

"You have a stunt this morning? Where?"

"Oh, about an hour and a half away by helicopter from the hangar."

"Then you should've left an hour ago!"

"Sorry, we were having a very serious conversation about not just disappearing and I didn't figure you'd like me disappearing in the middle of _that_ particular conversation."

"You are incorrigible, Stringfellow Hawke, simply incorrigible."

"I try," he replied with a self-satisfied smirk and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Oh, get going."

"Yes mam."

\A/

Dominic looked down at his watch after completing a thorough pre-flight check and wondering where in the world String was. He should've been here long ago and the scene was due to be shot in five minutes.

"Santini, are you ready yet? We're on in five," the director's assistant said.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be ready." It looked like he was on his own for this one, then he would be off to find out where the hell String was.

"Hey, Dom. Sorry I'm a little late," Hawke greeted, coming around the corner and stopping next to his surrogate father and employer.

" A little late? Hmph. You should've been here when I showed up. An hour ago!"

"Sorry. Cait and I had some things we had take care of."

"You've had the last two weeks to take care of whatever you had to do. Now your brother's taking the day off and you said you'd be back today. I even offered to reschedule if you weren't up to it, but no. You assured me you would be here."

"Done now? I'm here now. How long before we shoot?"

"Three minutes." Dominic answered a little snappily.

"Three minutes? Wow, I have more time than I though I would," Hawke said to himself as he left to go suit up and prepare for the stunt.

"Wow. I've got even longer than I though," Dom mimicked, shaking his head. " And I leave my life in _his_ hands on a regular basis." But even as he said it, he knew he couldn't think of a more capable person.

\A/

Standing next to the director, Dom watched the Hughes 500 fling itself around the corner of a tall building and spin around on its own axis, rocking haphazardly as the gunship sped past. By the time the Hughes had righted itself, the other helicopter hard started shooting, supposedly hit the tail rotor, and the Hughes began letting loose a trail of smoke, spinning around a few times then spiraling down towards the ground where a huge explosion went off, giving the impression the Hughes had been blown into a million tiny pieces.

He could see something like that happening, actually witnessed it a couple times from Airwolf's cockpit; only normally it was String turning around and triumphantly leaving the scene instead of crashing and burning at the bottom of the canyon. Just the thought sent shivers down his spine. They'd had a few close calls in Airwolf, but obviously they were still both here today. String did a good job protecting them and never even thought about putting his own life above any of theirs', again he found himself being was glad it was String. Maybe it was because he was practically a son, but always he would be proud of him, son or not. Whether right or wrong, he wasn't so sure he could so easily trust anyone else with his life, some days not even himself.

\A/

"You ready to go Dom?" String asked, startling him.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, bringing himself back into the present. "Nice flying up there today, kid."

"I had a good teacher."

Dominic took the jeep while String flew back to the cabin to pick up Caitlin and Chance then up to the hangar again arriving about the same time as Dom was pulling up.

"So you're all good now?" Dom checked.

"Yeah. Time to finally get back to work."

"And you've gotten the doctor's all clear?"

"Shouldn't you have asked all this _before_ I flew the stunt?"

"Yeah, but I didn't. So do you or not?" It would be the first time he'd been flying against doctor orders, but things like that worried him. For one, there was usually a reason the doctor didn't want him flying. And secondly, he could loose his license.

"Since when did I start listening to doctors?" Hawke joked.

"String," Dom warned sternly.

"None of the doctors even know about my little mishap."

"You never went to see the doctor?!"

"Cait took good care of me. I didn't need to go. Besides, wasn't Michael's agent supposed to be some kind of doctor? And she said rest would be the best thing for me."

"But also suggested you see a your own doctor once you arrived back in the states."

"I decided not to take her suggestion." He shrugged, unconcerned. "Dom, I'm fine. I'm due to take my pilot's physical not too long from now anyway. If I'm not fit for flying I'm sure they'll let you know."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Setting the cello back on its stand and dumping the unfinished coffee down the kitchen sink, Hawke told his wife a quick goodnight then made his way up to the loft and before long was fast asleep.

Caitlin watched him ascend the stairs silently and disappear into the bedroom. Something about him was off, she just couldn't quite place what. For the most part he seemed alright, in a pretty good mood, not sick, no obvious long lasting injuries from the last mission, but the last few days he had been a little too amiable, too willing to please simply because it was easier than to fight back. He'd been going to bed early, lately not much after she had been putting Chance to bed, and had been getting up later, and being an even more finicky eater than usual, mostly resorting to just vegetables and a little fruit because he hadn't felt like going fishing.

Dom hadn't planned a very rigorous schedule this week knowing Saint John wouldn't be there today and not sure of String's exact condition after coming back from Iran. Surprisingly, Hawke hadn't even put up much fuss over his unplanned two week vacation. To her he seemed to be acting pretty normal - a little stiff and gimped up, but that was to be expected after the workovers they had given him. He had spent a fair amount of time reading or playing his Stradivarius cello, but nothing far out of the ordinary. So what was it that made her concerns rise so? Nothing was major, just little things were off.

At least he'd be mostly grounded for the rest of the week where they could keep a better eye on him. The only other major flying planned was a long charter, but she was listed to take that one.

All he would have to do would be the daily routine flight to and from the hangar from the cabin while she was gone, and if something really was wrong or he didn't feel well Dom would let him bunk at his apartment.

She had nothing to worry about.

\A/

When Caitlin awoke the following morning, she found the other side of the bed already empty and Chance fussing in his room.

First she retrieved the toddler and started breakfast, then started the hunt for Hawke. He wasn't out front and he obviously wasn't inside the cabin, but the Jet Ranger was still waiting on the dock, so he hadn't flown off anywhere either.

Going to rescue the eggs she was about to scorch, she came across a note taped to the refrigerator saying that he had just gone out for a run and should be back in time for breakfast.

Maybe he was feeling better, she thought to herself hopefully. It had been a while since he'd even gone for a simple walk, always feeling to tired to, perhaps things were looking up after all.

Within ten minutes she had the slightly overcooked eggs, toast, and bacon for herself and Chance on the table. She had just finished pouring the coffee when Hawke came back in through the front door, breathing a little hard and sweaty but perceptibly feeling better.

"You can go ahead without me if you want. I'm going to get a quick shower then I'll be down."

"We'll wait," she told him. "Have a good run?"

He shrugged noncommittally. "Not bad," Hawke answered, heading for the bathroom.

\A/

Finishing buttoning his shirt as he came down the stairs, Hawke pulled up his chair and sat down with the others, buttering his toast and adding eggs to his plate.

Chance waved his bacon, contemplated whether or not he should eat it, took a bite, then dropped the remainder which Tet quickly took care of.

"Oh boy, looks like we're raising another fish and veggies boy," Caitlin remarked. " He really is a miniature you. Did you give Dom and your parents this much trouble as a kid?"

"Nah, I was always a good little boy," Hawke replied with a grin.

"Sure you were."

"Well, I guess there was that time when Sinj and I decided to go camping for the weekend and didn't bother telling anyone our plans."

"Oh is that all?" she laughed.

"You'd be surprised at some of the things we did."

"Like what?" she challenged.

"Like when we 'remodeled' our room while our parents were out running some errands or when I fed the whole twenty pound Thanksgiving Day turkey to the dog because I didn't think it tasted very good."

"Ok. You win. Better stop now before you give him anymore ideas. I don't think he needs any more help."

"Don't want to raise a Stringfellow Jr. ?"

"To me, it looks like we already are. He's just like you in about every way possible."

"Not every way."

"Oh? How is he not them?"

"He's got beautiful eyes, just like you do."

"Yeah. Beautiful blue eyes that look just like yours."

"Alright fine. Maybe we'll just have to have another one that takes after you more."


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

**12:08 am**

**The Cabin**

Tossing back and forth, Hawke tried to get some sleep, but his mind fought him every step of the way.

_The missile was inching closer and closer and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't outrun it and he knew it. In the seat next to him rest his brother's limp and unconscious body. He had to get to a hospital and fast; there was no time for dogfights, but the missile continued gaining on them._

"_Dom, release a sunburst."_

_Dominic released a sunburst, but the unidentified missile didn't fall for the decoy._

"_It didn't take."_

"_Try a chaff."_

"_Didn't take it either," Dom replied grimly._

"_Load a Hellfire then."_

"_We're out String. Everything is spent. We have to out climb it."_

_But String could feel his brother's tentative grasp on life slipping away. He couldn't take this, it was just too much._

"_Sinj can't, he wouldn't be able to take the sudden altitude and pressure change."_

"_String…"_

"_He's my brother! I'm not going to kill him!"_

"_We're all dead if you don't do something about that missile. You have to String. There's no other way."_

_Sweat burned as it ran into his eyes even as he started their ascent. But only seconds later his vision blurred and grayed, threatening to fade away altogether. Unconsciousness clawed at him, trying to seduce him into giving in. After all, he'd been awake for the last three days straight and shot in the leg. And he was the lucky one._

"_I…" his voice trailed away, getting caught in his throat as they quickly gained another fifteen hundred feet. "I can't d-do it… I can't."_

_His grip on the stick was a tenacious one, if anything he had willpower, but there just wasn't anything left to give. He had already given all the blood, sweat, and tears he could, and one can only run on adrenaline alone for so long…_

_The missile still gained on them._

"_Forget out climb, have to out fly." _

_There was no time though - no time to climb, no time to fly. There was no time to think, no time to breath._

_Hurdling itself at them, the missile covered the last bit of critical space between them, crashing into the helicopter back end first and sending the whole thing up in flames, hurtling balls of fire and shrapnel falling from the sky._

"_String," was the last thing he heard as fiery hot metal pierced through his flesh, incinerating it and at last the pain was too much, beyond too much, then simply was no more._

"String."

Breathing hard and heavy blanket of sweat covering every inch of skin, he awoke, half unsure, and mostly amazed he was alive. At first he tried to compose himself, but soon gave up, knowing it to be a futile effort. He was burning up and yet he could couldn't stop shaking, shivering. His heart still raced, but at last he was able to sit up, finding himself on the downstairs sofa although unsure of how he got there.

"String, it's alright," Caitlin soothed, gently running her hand through his sweat matted hair. "It's ok."

His breathing slowed a little as he brought himself out of the terrifying dream.

"Another nightmare?" she guessed.

"Yeah," he replied briefly. This was becoming a routine he'd like to break, already having woken up sweat drenched and shouting in agony three times earlier just this week. "Just can't seem to shake them."

"You want to talk about it? She offered supportively.

"Not really. I crashed Airwolf, killed Dom and Saint John too," he murmured to himself, "makes me wonder how long it'll be until I really do stuff that big bird into the ground."

"You won't; you wouldn't take some mission you know you couldn't handle."

"All it takes is one mistake at mach one," he reminded. " Sorry I woke you, but you can go back to bed now, I'll take care of Chance," he said changing the subject, and for the first time Caitlin realized the three year old was crying.

"How long has he been fussing?"

"Just started," Hawke answered, "now go ahead to bed, no reason in all three of us being tired in the morning."

\A/

It was only five in the morning and already Hawke was tired enough to sleep at least a good eight hours straight. But it wouldn't have mattered if he'd had two days to sleep with the nightmares he'd been having lately. Three this week for him and two for Chance. He was amazed poor Caitlin could deal with either of them lately; he knew they both had to be grumpy and irritable being so tired, but what could he do?

Maybe it was time to lay off the Airwolf missions for a while, any other world ending crises Michael had would just have to wait. He could take some time off and relax a little before getting back to the daily grind. Perhaps Dom had been right when he showed concern at the movie stunt the other day.

"Cait, when you get up to the hangar today would you tell Dom I think I am going to go ahead and take those other few days off."

"Why, is something wrong?"

"Just not bouncing back very quickly this time, need a little rest. You can leave Chance here though."

"If you need your rest I should take him," Caitlin objected, "you'd get more peace and quiet that way."

"He'll be fine. I insist.

\A/

Le was sweeping up the floor as Caitlin walked in.

"Where's Dom?" she asked.

"In the office," Le answered, "but I wouldn't go in there right now."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," Le shrugged, " but my dad was suddenly all worried about something this morning and they've been talking about it all morning."

"No idea what it's about?" Caitlin asked hopefully.

"Not really. Something he forgot about or didn't do I think. Something about Ellie Mae."


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

"She was in Italy visiting an old college roommate who recently moved there," Saint John explained. "She said that when her plane landed she would call and I was going to pick her up from the airport and take her home, but she should've been back yesterday and she never called."

"Maybe her flight was running late or delayed," Caitlin suggested, "or maybe it was late and she took a cab home."

Saint John shook his head. "No, she said she'd call and I stopped by her house this morning anyway and nobody was home or had been for a while."

"Give it a little time," Dom recommended, "perhaps someone got a date or time wrong or she decided to stay a little longer. It could be anything. If you still haven't heard anything by tomorrow, then we can look into it more."

\A/

A cool, late spring breeze rustled the tree's leaves and brought a comfortable but almost damp feeling to the air. It had been overcast all day but just now showing indications that some rain might actually show up.

"Guess we had better get started back, huh?"

Together he and Chance had gone on a long, lazy walk around the lake after lunch, wandering further and further into the woods enjoying the perfect weather.

Now gray clouds gathered overhead and the wind picked up, warning of the showered to come. Hawke soon realized that unless they picked up the pace a lot they wouldn't make it back before the rain came, but either way they should get moving.

"Want a piggy-back ride?" he asked.

"Yeah! Piggy ride, piggy ride," Chance called out excitedly.

Stopping for a minute to situate the child on his back, Chance threw his arms around his father's neck and they were off again.

Despite his efforts to get them home quickly, soon showers of water rained down upon them, soaking them thoroughly. Chance removed one hand to wipe wind blown hair out of his face, hands first smoothing it down but eventually messing up his father's hair in the process.

"Daddy got spiky hairs," Chance proclaimed proudly, then ran his hands through his own hair and making it stand on end too.

By the time they reached the cabin, both were drenched, spiky haired, and laughing, unconcern about being soaked to the bone, and having a great time.

Chance slid down from his father's back and landed right in the middle of a huge mud puddle.

"Boy, are you a mess," String commented, knowing that it didn't really make much difference. A nice warm bath was in order for both of them.

"Play mud, Daddy," he requested. "Fun, fun!"

Without second thought, he grabbed a big handful of the gooey substance, it oozing out between his fingers and offered it to String. "Pie," he said.

"Mud pie?"

"No. Choc-late," Chance corrected.

"How about chocolate mud pie?"

"Yeah," he agreed excitedly, handing him the goopy mess whether he wanted it or not and quickly making another one.

"Mo?"

"More," Hawke correctly gently.

"Mo. Daddy want mo?"

"Nah. Daddy's had enough. Now come on; we better get in and get clean or mud won't be the only thing we're knee deep in."

Picking up the dirty child, Hawke wiped what little bit of grime he could off and carried him inside straight to the bathroom and prepared a warm bubble bath.

\A/

By the time Caitlin arrived back home, the sun had reappeared and clouds past, leaving no evidence of the earlier storm other than the muddy paths and the droplets of water glistening on practically every available surface.

Walking in the front door, she found both father and son wet headed and in bathrobes drinking hot cocoa.

"And what have you two been up to today? She asked inquisitively. Most everything looked just like when she had left this morning so if she had to guess, she'd say they spent most of the day outside.

"This afternoon went for a nice leisurely long walk," Hawke supplied.

"Did that go well?"

"Well, sort of. It was a nice long and leisurely walk all the way to the other side of the lookout point I showed you not too long ago. We had to hurry back though and still got caught in the rain storm," he explained, omitting the details of their racing through the trees, Chance on piggy back, nearly running into a few of those trees, and their chocolate mud pie. "How was your day?"

"Oh, you know the usual - paperwork, a stunt to prepare for, and routine maintenance. After all, we can't all take off and gallivant around you know," she added with a grin.

Admittedly, she was a little jealous. Not having anything in particular that had to be done and nice long walk through the woods around the lake sounded nice, really nice, but still she didn't begrudge him his time off, even if he had already spent the last two weeks recuperating and relaxing at the cabin. He'd recently been tricked into a dangerous mission to rescue Michael that hadn't really been a mission at all, but a clever scheme by an Iranian terrorist to get control of Airwolf. He'd been beaten, abused, hardly fed or allowed much sleep, in addition to risking his life and getting grazed.

He deserved the time to relax. What concerned her was that he had come back to the hangar, assuring everyone that he was fine only to decide he needed a few more days off.

He said he was just tired, and she hoped that was all, but something still seemed off. And those terrible nightmares…already three just this week. What was causing them to suddenly start reoccurring so frequently again?

Perhaps spending a couple more days at the cabin without the stress of work and missions would do him some good. It sure couldn't hurt anything.

If they didn't go away soon though, he was going to have to go see a doctor, psychiatrist, something, whether he wanted to or not.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Le was still half asleep, obviously not enjoying his father's dragging him up to Knightsbridge at such an early hour, but understanding his concern just the same, while Saint John was just the opposite. He was restless and antsy, sure something terrible must've happened to her or possibly Joshua.

It's nothing, he told himself over and over again. They're both perfectly fine, just decided to extend their visit a little…or maybe it was you, you stupid lunkhead. In your haste you wrote down the wrong date - the twelfth instead of the twenty first. He only hoped one of these were true, that he'd messed up in his note taking or she had made some change in her plans. But, on the other hand, she didn't have any living relatives other than Josh, and if something had happened over there wouldn't be anyone there to care for her and the kid.

Stop torturing yourself over this, he scolded. Whatever had happened - good, bad or indifferent - had happened and there wasn't a thing in the world he could do to change it no matter what, so he might as well just relax and wait for Michael to bring him the news. Then he could decide what his course of action would be or even if any action needed to be taken.

Samantha quietly entered the spacious office, startling Saint John when she appeared, bringing coffee and doughnuts.

Saint John looked up at her with questioning eyes, hoping she had something to tell them. Anything that had happened had to be more bearable than this waiting and not knowing.

She shook her head softly, answering his silent plea.

"He will be in in just a minute though," she told him sympathetically. "I'm sure everything'll be just fine."

"Thank you," he said, more for the words of encouragement, whether they be true or not, but reaching for the sugary treat anyway.

Samantha set the tray down and poured him a cup of the strong brewed coffee, adding just a little sugar the way he liked it and leaving the cup in front of him. Then she silently slipped out again as quietly as she had entered, leaving him alone again. Alone to wonder, ponder, worry, and come up with scenarios that were probably far worse than whatever incident had actually occurred.

Time dragged by torturously slowly, the not knowing worse than whatever the final consequence could be.

At this rate he figured he could probably have caught a flight to Italy and start questioning random people until he found the answers he was looking for faster than this. Ok, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but it sure seemed that way right now.

A quick glance down at his watch told him he only been waiting twenty five minutes since making his request with Michael, hardly anything to complain about considering he was asking for up to date information on an average civilian who was merely vacationing in a different country. That was far from what they would usually be keeping tabs on, or even had any reason to give a care about, so anything they wanted they would have to dig up.

Just how difficult was his request? Saint John wondered. He wanted to know what had happened to Ellie Mae, why she hadn't called or shown up when she was supposed to have. He had little information to offer them other than that she was staying at a small hotel in the outskirts of Rome where she was meeting an old college friend and catching up. He didn't even know what he wanted them to find. He didn't know anything that had happened to her or her son, where they were, where they were going, who they were going to meet even.

No wonder it was taking so long, he thought to himself. His request wasn't exactly an easy one to say the least.

At last the FIRM director came in to end the miserable wait, tired and leaning heavily on his silver crested rosewood cane, and a lone thin grey folder with an executive FIRM seal adorning the front of it.

"So?" Saint John questioned impatiently. "What's the news?"

"The white clad man perched on the edge of his desk, and idly fingering the folder for a moment then dropped it down onto his desk, letting out a long, deep breath, and obviously not looking forward to giving whatever news he had.

"Just spit it out already," Saint John demanded, then a sudden thought hit him. "She's….she's gone - dead - isn't she?" he asked, voice abruptly growing soft and sincere.

Michael hung his head solemnly. "Not dead exactly. They were in a car accident; she received some serious injuries do to the trauma and has been in a coma for the last two weeks," he told him gravely. "I'm sorry I didn't find out and tell you earlier."

"Josh, what about him?"

"He walked away with hardly a scratch. Currently he's living in foster care not far from the hospital but hasn't been able to see his mother. All reports we have say he is doing well, but they'll need to find him a permanent home if his mother doesn't pull through or is unable to care for him."

Saint John nodded wordlessly in acknowledgment.

"Just what are the odds of her pulling through?"

Michael shook his head again. "Not too good I'm afraid, but on the plus side most of her physical injuries have received proper attention and are mending well. With the tests they have been able to run and if she does pull out of the coma, eventually she should be able to lead a pretty normal life."

"_Probably_ live a normal life, _if_ she pulls out of the coma…" Saint John muttered to himself.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you any better news," Michael said apologetically. "If there was anything I could do I would."

"There is something…. I'd like to use your phone."

\A/

Caitlin hadn't been gone long, hardly five minutes, if that, when he answered the call, expecting it to be Michael. He was, after all, the only one that ever called on the secured line, and the only way to reach the cabin other than by radio.

Whatever Michael had would just have to wait though because he still had two days of rest and relaxation and he planned to enjoy them, just father and son.

Caitlin would be leaving to take a charter to Vegas for two days then drop the newlyweds off at their new home in Sacramento before heading home. Dom had said he and Everett could handle things, and with Saint John and Le there too there would be plenty of extra people and no problem with him taking them time off.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

When he answered, he didn't get anything like what he was expecting.

"String," Saint John said shakily. "Listen, I know you're supposed to have some time off, but I… I need your help."

"Anything Sinj," he answered without hesitation.

"I need to get to Italy. Ellie Mae, she was in an accident, now in a coma…" his voice trailed off and String could sense the desperation in his tone. This was serious and there was no possible way he was going to leave Saint John to deal with this one alone.

"See about getting one of Michael's angels to pick me up from the cabin and we'll go right away."

\A/

Chance and Hawke arrived at Knightsbridge an hour and a half later to meet with Saint John in Michael's office.

"Good morning, Hawke" Michael greeted cordially as the younger brother, child in tow, flung the door open and strode inside.

"Yeah. Where's Saint John?"

"He'll be back up in just a minute or two. How've you been?" he asked, trying to make small talk. I overheard part of a conversation and from my understanding you were taking some vacation time?"

"Rest and recuperation," Hawke replied brusquely.

"Recuperation?" that surprised him. Typically Hawke was a quick healer and he hadn't gotten injured as badly as he did sometimes. That and the fact he wasn't usually one to admit he was still recuperating.

"I haven't slept well lately, nightmares."

"Nightmares?"

"I'm not in the mood for playing psychiatrist, Michael. Nightmares? Yes nightmares. I'm sure you've dealt with people who've had nightmares, specifically related to post traumatic stress disorder before, have had them since 'Nam, they had been becoming less frequent though until recently, lately they've been coming back with a vengeance.

"Any idea why?" Michael queried even as Saint John rejoined them.

"Got to go Michael, and no I don't."

\A/

Pulling up inside the Lair in his brother's car, String shifted into park and glanced across at his older brother.

"You going to be ok?" All too well he remembered losing loved ones and understood what he was going through, nothing easy, that was for sure.

"Yeah," he replied, still trying to convince himself of that very same thing. "And thanks for everything, for even just coming."

"That's what brother's are for, right? I know you would do the same for me."

If I were there, Saint John thought to himself bitterly. Lately I haven't exactly done a great job at being there when you needed me.

"Ready?" String asked when the others didn't follow him out of the vehicle.

"Alright," Saint John answered with a heavy sigh, " Let's go."

"You know, I'm starting to think we should get Chance a little flight suit of his own. He seems to be coming along often enough."

Saint John couldn't help but smile a bit. "Maybe you're right. Although, hopefully this time we won't be dodging missiles."

"Yeah, let's avoid those for once," String agreed.

\A/

Landing the Jet Ranger on the tarmac outside the hangar, Dom climbed out, nodding to Everett and giving him the ok.

"She ran beautifully, no more of that vibrating like a jackhammer every time you get off the ground. Good job Ev."

"No problem, Mr. Santini. So, where are the others? I haven't seen them all day."

"Italy."

"Italy?"

"Saint John's girlfriend got in an accident over there."

"Is she ok?"

"Don't know yet. Hopefully they will find out something soon. What else do we have coming up this week?"

"I'm done with everything unless I need to work on that chopper some more," Everett answered. "I think you said you had a lesson scheduled for Friday."

"Alright then. You can take some time off then. It looks like Saturday I'm flying over to Italy."


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"Che posso fare per lei?" the nurse at the first desk asked.

Neither answered.

"C'è qualcosa posso aiutarla con?"

"Speak any Italian?" Saint John prompted.

" 'Fraid not. Maybe Dom was right."

"That we should have learned Italian? Yeah, who would've figured."

"Ellie Mae. We're looking for Ellie Mae. She was brought here by ambulance after a car accident."

"Ellie Mae in ambulanza?" the nurse asked with a heavy accent.

"Yes," Saint John replied, nodding his head.

After a moment's pause, she wrote the number to the patient's room on a piece of paper with a warm smile. "Sperare che fa buono."

Together the foursome took an elevator and roamed the halls until at last they found the room they were looking for.

"I'll wait out here with the kids first," String offered, but Saint John declined.

"She's in a coma, I highly doubt they'd bother her."

\A/

**Two Hours Later**

Hawke sat in the foldable chair sipping the hardest to order cup of coffee he'd ever had while Chance was chowing down on some Italian sandwich that he personally had found utterly repulsive. What they had done to it he didn't know, but whatever it was sure didn't help it any. Maybe it was a hospital thing… Come to think of it, none of the hospitals he had been in or visiting had very good food, and he had been to plenty of them in several different countries.

He had thought taking Le and Chance down for some lunch had been a good idea, let Saint John have some privacy and let them have some time out of the room, but even that hadn't exactly gone very well.

Saint John pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.

"Any new news?"

"Nothing," he answered dejectedly. " I finally found someone who spoke a little English to translate for us, but things aren't looking up much. If someone recovers from a coma it is usually in the first few weeks, after about three to five weeks the odds start steadily decreasing, and it has already been almost three."

"That doesn't mean it's over. She still has two weeks and it isn't even like just because she had passed the usual time she'll never pull out."

Saint John refused to listen to his brother's reasoning though. "So far there haven't been any indications of her starting to come around yet, and let's face it. My luck with women hasn't been any better than your past history, if anything worse."

"Worse? Yeah. At least your fiancé didn't die in a car accident you practically walked away from, after not letting anyone in for years, finally letting your guard slip a little and have her die in your arms. And Caitlin almost died twice before I even realized I really cared her, then we both had a couple close calls before we actually got together, and still people are constantly after us."

"At least you still have somebody. Caitlin's strong, and I have a feeling she won't give up without a long hard fight."

"Neither will Ellie. After all this time you think she would just give up?"

"Her husband died, String. I can't ever replace that, I always will only be second best."

"Not second best. She loves you, Sinj, really and truly. Her only regret is the lost time, the years she spent thinking you were dead. She feels guilty about it, but Arthur never was her true love, you have been, ever since you two met over in Vietnam. If you take the time to think about it, I think you will realize that."

"Maybe you are right," Saint John finally acquiesced, seeing the truth in his brother's words. "What do you think the likelihood of me being able to adopt Joshua would be?"

"Adopt him?"

Saint John nodded. "Somebody has to take care of him and I don't think Ellie would want him to have to stay in foster care if she doesn't pull through."

He could understand that. Had done about the same thing with Le before finding Saint John, and he hadn't regretted it a minute of his life, but there was no denying it wasn't always easy.

"She told me she was a packaged deal; if I got her I also got Josh," Saint John explained, "I intend to keep my end of the bargain however this turns out. It's the least I can do."

"Well, then I might know a certain FIRM director I've found can be very useful in speeding up adoption processes immensely."

\A/

"Marella, get me the current regulations on adopting children from foreign countries, specifically Italy," Michael requested.

"Yes sir, but you do understand that it is a long process, in many cases taking months or sometimes longer to complete."

"Yes I know that, but I think we're going to have to speed it up. Neither Hawke is especially known for their patience and tact."

That was for sure. Once Hawke had found out about Le and decided to adopt him, there was no stopping him, and he figured dealing with his older brother would be similar.

"Yes sir, I'll get right on that."

"And Marella…."

"Sir?"

"Thank you."

With her natural abilities, talents, and vast amounts of knowledge and experience, this was a small and trivial task, far under normal expectations, but he wanted it done thoroughly and quickly, and he knew no one better.

\A/

Caitlin sat nibbling at a salad she wasn't all that interested in, her mind wandering all the way back to Van Nuys. What were the guys up to right now? How were String and Chance doing? What about Le?

The newlyweds seemed to be having the time of their lives, but personally she wasn't finding a whole lot of interest in "The Entertainment Capital of the World," or "Sin City."

There was a lesson scheduled for Friday afternoon but other than that, there wasn't a whole lot going on at the hangar as far as she knew, but still would've been nice.

Oh well, she thought, only two more days of this then she would be free to go.

\A/

Saint John held Ellie's hand carefully in his own, thinking of how feeble and frail she looked. She had lost the healthy tanned color and the rosy blush to her cheeks, now pale and colorless.

"Hang on," he told her, " you can pull through; I know you can."

Leaning over, he dropped a soft kiss on her lips. "But I'll take care of Josh either way, I promise. I love you, Ellie Mae."

With that, he turned to leave the room and meet up with his brother, Le, and Chance back at the hotel.

The hotel they were staying at was only about a block away, so he chose to walk there, still arriving before String and the others.

Unlocking the door and pushing it open. He stepped through, dropping tiredly onto the bed and before long sleeping soundly.

It was another thirty minutes before String came back with considerable amounts of paperwork to be filled out, the records to be brought, and other miscellaneous ins and outs from the adoption agency and foster care parents.

"Hey Sinj, I brought you a whole truckload of this paper junk, you think we could get an express adoption? Because otherwise we'll be lucky if we finish filling out this stuff before next week."

"Huh?" Saint John questioned sleepily, "oh, that."

"Yeah that. Where'd you stash the kids? It's the quietest it has been since be got here."

"Kids? It thought Le and Chance we with you."


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

"This isn't going to look good - try to get one kid, loose two."

"And in Italy of all places, we can't understand half of what's being said."

"Cait'll kill me if she finds out…"String groaned.

" 'Course she would. Hell, she's probably going to kill me too. In her place wouldn't you? I mean, it wouldn't be without good reasoning."

"You know, she never has to find out. What she doesn't know won't kill her?"

"We better get started looking for them then because I don't think that is something we can just slide past her," Saint John added with a halfhearted grin despite himself.

"I'll call the police and report….."

"What?"

"I still don't speak Italian, how about you?"

"Who knew we needed to bring Dom to visit Ellie Mae in the hospital?"

"We can't tell him," the younger brother insisted, " he'd have our hides faster than Caitlin."

\A/

Retracing their steps, Saint John went back over to the hospital, asking any English speaking person he could find, looking in Ellie's room, waiting rooms, the cafeteria, bathrooms, and any other place he could think of while String caught a cab back to the adoption agency, even watching for any sign of either boy on the way there.

He had thought the boys were with Saint John, and Saint John had obviously believed them to be with him, so neither knew exactly when or where they'd been separated or where they might be now.

He tried slowing down long enough to logically think of why they had gone missing in the first place and where they might've gone, assuming they were still together… that he didn't even want to have to think about. If there was a fifteen year old and a six year old running loose somewhere near Rome, somebody had to know about it, now they just had to figure out who.

\A/

Dominic Santini sat alone in the office thinking back over how long it had been since he had done this being here all alone. Of course, this time was more temporary, but it still felt odd. After String had finally come back from his long retreat back to the cabin following the Vietnam War, they had worked together here and finally added Caitlin to the payroll. Now it was a real family, String now had a wife and a son, Saint John was back, and had been seeing Ellie occasionally if he understood right. Granted, the inseparable Hawke brothers probably knew a lot more about each others personal life than he did, but things were definitely looking up.

Tomorrow afternoon or possible Saturday morning he would be on the next plane to Italy to catch up with them unless he'd heard something from them before then even though he could only stay a couple of days. After all, somebody still had to run this place, but being able to go back to his Italy sure couldn't hurt even if only for a short while.

\A/

"Anything yet?"

"Nothing," Saint John answered. "Where could they be? We've practically already gone over the whole city twice and still no signs of them."

"They've got to be around here somewhere."

"We've spent all night looking. Where else is there to look?"

"Wherever they are evidently. Listen, I just got a call from Dom saying he was coming up to join us for a few days. You go meet him at the airport and take him back to the room, and I'll do a flyover with Airwolf while it's still dark."

"Alright," Saint John agreed, but you'll have to hurry. Sunrise is only about an hour and a half away."

"See you then."

Saint John grabbed his coat and the room key then hailed a taxi to take him to airport.

String, meanwhile took Airwolf up in another effort to find the missing children.

\A/

"So how are Joshua and Ellie Mae doing?" Dominic asked, immediately regretting doing so, but hoping they were doing ok.

"Nothing knew with Ellie," Saint John answered, "or not at least as far as we can tell. Most the staff at the hospital only speak Italian so that makes things a bit more difficult if you know what I mean."

"If you two had only studied Italian like I wanted you to…"

"Yeah, maybe it would have been a good idea, but I think it's a little late to learn it now, at least where it could be of any use on this trip."

"What about Joshua?"

"String has seen Josh more than I have, but he seems to be alright all things considered. Michael is supposed to fixing things up so I can adopt him."

"You're planning to adopt him?" Dom asked in surprise. "You got me with that one, but I guess I should have seen it coming."

"He likes me alright and he knows me. I can't just leave him over here, and who knows how things will turn out with Ellie. Nobody even knows if she'll even pull through or not."

Nodding in understanding, Dom looked for a new topic, knowing this one had already done much to tax the patience and strength of both boys.

It wouldn't be easy for anyone, more than enough difficult decisions to go around, but disaster seemed to strike the Hawke family on a regular basis and that wasn't something that got easier happening time and time again.

"How have the little ones been holding up, being dragged off to a foreign country and all?" Dom added with a slightly lighter tone.

"Little ones?"

"You know, Le and Chance."

"Yeah, Le and Chance…. Well… that' kind of a long story…."


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

"We're back," String called out as he unlocked the door. "I found…." his suddenly stopped as he saw Dom already waiting in the room with his older brother and the look of relief that had just flooded into Saint John's hazel eyes. "I, uh, found a nice restaurant for dinner if either of you are hungry."

Le and Chance followed him in. "But we've already eaten and I'm bushed, so if you don't mind I think we'll go ahead and crash."

\A/

"So today I want to contact Michael with Airwolf's long range radio and see how long it'll take until I can get custody of Joshua, then I guess we'll go back home," Saint John said the following morning at breakfast. "As much as I wish there was, nothing I can do here will help Ellie any more so there isn't a whole lot of point in sticking around," Saint John pointed out reasonably with a false calm. "The best think I can do now is to take care of Josh and pray she makes a full recovery eventually," he stated, already hating the idea immensely. True, there wasn't anything else he could do, but it felt so wrong just abandoning her.

"You're sure?"

"Not much else I can do. I can't change the past, would like it if I could, but I can't."

"Let's head on out to the Lady then."

"You go. I'll watch the kids," Dom volunteered, "I'm sure you'll be able to manage without them for the morning."

"You never know," String replied with a wry grin. "Sinj and I do have a propensity for getting ourselves in trouble, and it wouldn't be the first time one of them had to save the day."

"Go on and stay out of trouble, both of you."

"Sir, yes, sir," both men answered with a mock salute and marched off.

"What hams," Dom remarked.

"Yucky," Chance replied in return.

"Huh?"

"Ham yucky."

\A/

"It will still take some more time," Michael said, answering Saint John's question. "I'm doing what I can, but international adoptions are always somewhat tricky at best."

"I understand," the older brother said reasonably.

Honestly, if he had a little while to just get used to the idea himself might not be all bad. He cared for Ellie and Josh, that's what mattered and he was sure that he wanted to go through with this as far as it took him, but that didn't make the idea any less intimidating.

Le was the only son, only child, he'd ever raised, and personally he wasn't so sure he did the best job at just that. For one thing, he hadn't at all involved, or even known he existed for that matter, for the better part of Le's life. As a result, Le had grown up to be pretty independent and there were definitely ups and downs in there relationship, but this would be a whole new ball game. For one, Josh wasn't even really his son; he also was a lot younger, more dependent, and constant reminder of the woman he loved, the woman he was about to lose, maybe forever. He was a continual reminder of the years they could have had together if it weren't for that damned war, lost time he would never be able to make up.

"How long?"

"Probably another week or two at least."

"Alright. we'll come back home then for the time being."

\A/

**3 Weeks Later**

Saint John answered the door of his apartment, still clothed in a loose t-shirt and jeans, and looking like he far more to do that was likely to happen anytime in the vaguely near future.

"Hi Cait, something I can help you with?"

"You could let me in to put some things away, perhaps fix dinner, something to that vein."

"I won't turn down an offer like that. Come in and make yourself at home."

Doing just that, Caitlin walked inside and to the kitchen, soon looking through the cupboards and fridge for something to cook for supper.

"Where's String?" Saint John queried.

"Off flying somewhere," she answered noncommittally.

"Is everything ok?"

"I assume so, although I wouldn't know if something were wrong since I haven't seen him for last two days."

"Long charter?" he guessed.

"Not exactly, unless you want to count him chartering Airwolf to himself."

"He's not on a mission is he?" If String had been gone as long as Caitlin suggested, then he would have had to have gone alone… "You're sure there's nothing wrong?" he double checked, growing more baffled by the minute. Surely Caitlin would have been more concerned if she truly hadn't seen him in two days and had no clue were he was, but that was basically what she was claiming.

"As far as I know, everything is going according to his plan."

Pulling open the last cabinet and still not finding anything satisfactory, she walked back towards the door picking up her keys as she went.

"Goodness, Saint John Hawke. I thought String was bad, you don't have food for anything more elaborate than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly. "I've been pretty busy lately remodeling a bedroom and getting used to my newest family addition."

"You know I'm just teasing, but you really are running low on a lot of things, so I'll run up to the store and bring back some groceries. Why don't I take them too? Get 'em out of your hair for a while."

"Thanks Cait," Saint John said genuinely grateful, but he saw the knowing glint in her eye. "But what is String really up to? There's something you're not telling me."

"You'll just have to wait and see."


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Deciding to take a break for a while even though he probably could have gotten a lot more done, Saint John closed up the open paint can and striped off his stained t-shirt as he made his way down the hall to the bathroom for a shower.

The warm shower and quiet solitude of the apartment, temporary as it may be, he found very calming and relaxing after the long hours of work and frustration he had over the last few weeks. He'd lost Ellie, adopted Josh, and spent any available tome trying to ease the transition for everybody while redoing the boys' bedroom, and wishing he could see Ellie again, just one last time. He didn't regret any of the decisions he had made, but admittedly, he had gotten a little more than he bargained for. Maybe this was what poor Dom had felt like, definitely caught between a rock and a hard place. It wouldn't be easy, but there was no way he was going to abandon Joshua just because his relationship with Ellie Mae was cut short by some unfortunate circumstances. He'd make it work somehow, just like when Dom had taken them in.

Stepping out of the bedroom showered, shaved, and refreshed, he walked toward the kitchen where the phone had started ringing a moment ago.

"Hello?"

"Hello," a kind, little bit too perky voice said over the line, "is this a Mr. Saint John Hawke?"

"It is. Who is this?"

"I'm Jennifer Richmond from the community hospital, and I was asked to inform you that a Ms. Ellie Mae has arrived here safely from Italy and is currently staying in room 313."

"Ellie's here? In Van Nuys?" Saint John repeated uncertainly, sure he must've heard wrong. He had been forced to leave her behind back in Rome. She couldn't be life flighted all the way back to the US and honestly he knew that wouldn't have helped her come out of the coma, so what was the point?

Technically she wasn't dead, that was the point. There was still a glimmer of hope, a chance that eventually she would wake up. He understood this was no fairy tale, no true love's kiss was going to wake her up, but some doctors had reason to think that contact with loved ones could sometimes help bring comatose patients back, and he wanted to do anything he could.

"Yes sir. She's just been checked in," the nurse said in answer to his question, although herself wondering how and why and coma patient had been transported internationally so soon after they had even found out they were receiving a new patient, it had only been a matter of hours.

"Thank you. Thank you very much."

Three thirteen he mentally recited. What could it hurt to go and check if it was true? Caitlin had all the kids for now so there was nothing for him to worry about, a couple minutes away shouldn't make any difference.

Hardly a minute later, he was in his car and on the way to the hospital, knowing it was all going to reach a dead end when he got there.

There was a little extra spring in his step, energized just by the thought of seeing her again, but when he reached her door he stopped short and drew in a deep breath, Nothing was any different then it had been in Italy, just a different room, something a little closer to home, a little more familiar, but not necessarily in a good way. He hadn't known any good things to happen at this hospital - he was too young to remember String's birth, assuming it was even here, and nothing else he could think of might've ended up in a positive way. The way he understood it, String's fiancé was officially declared dead here after the car accident, and it was where his younger brother had spent weeks recovering from physical trauma and amnesia, not exactly things he wanted to dwell on. Chance hadn't even been born here. Why should this time be any different?

"It's now or never," he breathed as he turned the handle and pushed the wooden door open.

It was nothing different than what he'd been expected, a few necessary tubes, IVs, and that was about it. She wasn't dead, he kept having to remind himself over and over again, but if that was true appearances really could be deceiving. She had lost all the warm flush to her usually lively face. She just looked pale and fragile, yet for the gesture of bringing her back he would always be grateful.

Taking her limp, cool hand in his own, he held it tight, as if helping her cling to life itself, tears welling up in his eyes. "It'll be ok, Ellie. I loved you and always will continue to, no matter what happens here, I promise I'll take good care of Josh too, just like he were my own son, that was what I was hoping for anyway, if you'd have me. I'll be here if you ever need me, Ellie Mae, don't you forget that. Ever."

Dropping a soft parting kiss on her lips, he left the room quietly, having said his final goodbye if things didn't turn out, and silently drew the door closed behind him, tears now threatening fall.

On a bench just outside the door, sat String quietly waiting on him. It was not the words he said, but the immeasurable amount of comfort and understanding he held in his eyes.

Without word or sound, Saint John sat down beside him, arms wrapping around his younger brother's neck and burying his face into his shoulder as he let the tears fall unheeded, just as he had done years ago for String.


End file.
